Employers continue to rank health care highest in importance of employee benefits, according to the 2024 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey. As shown in the graph below, 88% of respondents said they consider health care-related benefits to be “extremely important” or “very important” to their workforces, followed by retirement savings (81%) and leave benefits (81%).
Moreover, for the past five years surveyed (2020-2024), the percentage of employers who rank health-related benefits high in importance has consistently hovered at or around 90% (see graph below). In contrast, in 2019, only 75% of employers ranked its importance as highly… suggesting that health care took on an even greater significance when the pandemic began.
Other survey findings:
- Nearly all organizations (97%) offer some type of health coverage. Over one-quarter of respondents (27%) say they currently offer a self-funded plan.
- 91% of organizations indicated that they offer telemedicine or telehealth as a benefit to their workers, and 90% offer mental health coverage.
- Flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs) continue to be the most popular type of health-related spending accounts, with 63% and 60% of employers offering them, respectively.
- Other common health care benefits are nearly universal in prevalence, such as dental insurance (99%) and vision insurance (96%).
If you’re a SHRM member, the association also offers an online, interactive benchmarking tool to compare your organization’s benefits against those surveyed.